Painted between 2008 and 2009, The First Wave series of paintings is based on the book: The Daemon.
This series focuses on ancient landscapes and cave-wall iconography, as were put down by the old peoples of Guanjama during the prehistoric age.
The First Wave series was displayed in exhibit during 2008 and 2009, having been retired from exhibition rotation towards the end of 2009 when the series The Golden Trees was begun. The First Wave reappeared in 2011 for a massive art&music live exhibition at the LX Factory in Lisbon entitled: the XL experience @ the XL factory.
- October 2008: IPJ, Lisbon, Portugal
- November 2008: Braço de Prata, Lisbon Portugal,
- January 2009: Fábrica da Pólvora, Oeiras, Portugal,
- May 2009: NH Hoteis, Lisbon, Portugal
- June 2009: Fundação Sousa Pedro, Lisbon, Portugal
- March/April 2011: LX Factory, Lisbon, Portugal
The First Wave: the Inside Story
Although this series of paintings were based on the book: The Daemon, the story itself was based on another story; not one in the fashion of ancient cultures and spiritual traditions, but one following an entirely different concept altogether.
The inspiration for The First Wave is in reality a precursor to the story itself, as it is based on the philosophies and mind-set of the peoples that ‘own’ the myths that ‘feed’ the book..
The attempt is to put these notions in context and emulate the cave paintings and carvings that are the evidence from which, after thorough investigation, the myths and stories for The Daemon have been finally compiled.
These are the engravings found in the caves of Dab-Shi, in the estuary of Guanjama. The caves were the homes first to the tribes of cave-dwellers, and later to the shamans and ascetics of posterior cultures. All, without exception left their mark in the walls, mostly in reference to the myth of How the Earth Became a Mother, which went on to become the inspiration of the following series of paintings: The Golden Trees. It is part of a World-View that has long since disappeared from the mainstream but still lingers behind the scenes, bringing poetry to the lives of the few who embrace it.
It was believed in this region on Dab-Shi, in Guanjama, that within all living beings resided a mind divided into three filters of experience, called “The Three Bodies”, and a fourth external factor they named “The Ghost”.
“The Ghost” was the name given to all living external influences, be they visible or not, that could affect one’s behaviour. It referred to the influence of all kinds of Spirits, without discriminating between Gods, Guardian Angels and Elementals, as well as Independent Energies, whether positive or negative in force.
The “Middle Body” signified Consciousness, or the “I”. All that was part of an association between the sense and the lived present was of this world, of the “Middle Body”, only subsequently being transferred and stored to the “Lower Body”, and with time completely disappearing in the depths of the Self. This was a world ruled by emotions and the processes of logic. The element of “Fire” was associated to the “Middle Body”.
The “Lower Body” was the repository of all experience and acquired information. There was no time there, only the eternal present. It was a Body, or dense state, with no tangible definition; and of difficult access beyond the superficial contact with memories and their associated sensations attributed by the “Middle Body”.
However, it was there, in the depths of the “Lower Body” that the final illumination could take place, in a simultaneous playing and burning of all moments lived in an ultimate epiphany. The “Lower Body” was ruled by the Earth element.
The “Higher Body” was white, neutral, and pure. Here resided the Immortality of Being, and the Ultimate Reality. This was a state which was always present, and always hidden, colouring every aspect of life in the “Middle Body”, yet who’s realization was untouchable until attainment of the illumination of the “Lower Body”. The attributed Element to the “Higher Body” was Air.
The First Wave: the Underlying Flair
The undefined abstract world is appealing to work in, for it allows total freedom from concept and form in the act, and lets the work emerge intuitively, almost unconsciously. The improvisational character of working in this field is liberating to say the least, and one can truly let the story tell itself, relegating his own position from that of a commanding creator to that of an active observer, performing the act of creation in a sort of magical hypnosis or trance while still maintaining lucidity and critic abilities.
There is something to be said about repetitious actions as well. To have a huge wall in front of you and ‘touching’ it, colouring it, mindlessly wandering along the surface forever changing what it is and represents with our tracks is something quite warming.
The root of this work is steeped in symbolism and so it as appropriate that the technique follows the same trend:
sym·bol (n).
Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.
And so it is…
end of
————–The First Wave————–
Loved The First Wave but I want to visit other Visual Arts or go back to the Home Page
